Two for the dough

'I have a girlfriend in New Brunswick. I can stay with her for a while.'

'Make sure you keep the court informed of your address.' She nodded her head and scuttled back into her house. I hopped behind the wheel and threaded my way through the burg to Hamilton. Eugene's head snapped around some on the curves, but aside from that the trip to the police station was uneventful. I drove to the rear of the building, climbed out of the Buick, hit the attention button on the locked door, which led to the docket desk, and stepped away to wave at the security camera.

Almost instantly the door opened and Crazy Carl Costanza poked his head out at me.

'Yeah?'

'Pizza delivery.'

'It's against the law to lie to a cop.'

'Help me get this guy out of my car.'

Carl rocked back on his heels and smiled. 'This is your car?' I narrowed my eyes. 'You want to make something of it?'

'Hell no. I'm fucking politically correct. I don't make cracks about women's big cars.'

'She electrocuted me,' Eugene said. 'I want to talk to a lawyer.' Carl and I exchanged looks.

'It's terrible what drink can do to a man,' I said, unlocking the cuffs. 'The craziest things come out of their mouths.'

'You didn't really electrocute him, did you?'

'Of course not!'

'Scrambled his neurons?'

'Buzzed him on the ass.'

By the time I got my body receipt it was after six. Too late to stop by the office and get paid. I idled in the parking lot for a few moments, staring beyond the wire fence at the odd assortment of businesses across the street. The Tabernacle Church, Lydia's Hat Designs, a used-furniture store, and a corner grocery. I'd never seen any customers in any of the stores, and I wondered how the owners survived. I imagined it was marginal, although the businesses seemed stable, their facades never changing. Of course, petrified wood looks the same year after year, too.

I was worried my cholesterol level had dropped during the day, so I opted for Popeye's spicy fried chicken and biscuits for dinner. I got it to go, and I drove me and my food to Paterson Street and parked across from Julia Cenetta's house. I figured it was as good a place as any to eat, and who knows, maybe I'd get lucky and Kenny would show up. I finished my chicken and biscuits with a side of slaw, slurped down a Dr. Pepper, and told myself it didn't get much better than this. No Spiro, no dishes, no aggravation. Lights were on in Julia's house but curtains were drawn, so I couldn't snoop. There were two cars in the driveway. I knew one was Julia's, and I assumed the other belonged to her mother.

A late-model car pulled up to the curb and parked. A hulking blond guy got out of the car and went to the door. Julia answered, wearing jeans and a jacket. She called something over her shoulder to someone in the house and left. The blond guy and Julia sat kissing in the car for a few minutes. The blond guy cranked the engine over and the two of them drove away. So much for Kenny.

I rumbled off to Vic's Video and rented Ghostbusters , my all-time favorite inspirational movie. I picked up some microwave popcorn, a KitKat, a bag of bite-sized Reese's peanut butter cups, and a box of instant hot chocolate with marshmallows. Do I know how to have a good time, or what?

The red light was blinking on my answering machine when I got home. Spiro wondered if I'd made any progress finding his caskets, and did I want to go to dinner with him tomorrow after the Kingsmith viewing? The answer to both questions was an emphatic NO ! I procrastinated relaying this to him, as even the sound of his voice on my machine gave me bowel problems.

The other message was from Ranger. 'Call me.'

I tried his home phone. No answer. I tried his car phone.

'Yo,' Ranger said.

'It's Stephanie. What's happening?'

'Gonna be a party. Think you should get dressed for it.'